Restoration Justice

What is restorative justice? This system of justice offers a new look at justice outside of the punishment model

Restorative justice is focused on treating the criminal, rather than just the crime. It is more interested in decreasing the number of criminals to be processed through the criminal justice system in the distant future than it is to just moving them all through as quickly as possible.

In the days of turning dangerous criminals loose because there simply isn’t room to house them all any longer, restorative justice is something that should be brought into the mainstream and embraced. It is a different approach that has brought on heated debate and tons of criticism, but it is also something that not everyone completely understands.

At its heart, restorative justice challenges the way we currently punish and process criminals in our justice system. Right now the system is designed to punish the crime that has been committed, with different crimes having different standards of punishment and individual judges having great discretion on the exact sentence handed down.

When a criminal goes on trial in our current system they are trying to prove their innocence against the charges they are faced with. While their attorney will try to appeal to the judge and jury with their character and personality, the problems that may have led them to commit the crimes play a very minor part in the trial and later sentencing procedures.

Even when there is a mental illness or other problems which have led to the crime at hand, there is a large segment of the community that does not agree with cutting a criminal any slack. They feel the crime needs to be paid for with standard punishments like jail time or the death penalty.

On the other hand, criminal advocates argue for more lenient sentencing and more creative punishments for criminals facing serious challenges.

Restorative justice stands a middle ground by aiming to uncover the issues that have led to the criminal behavior while still punishing those crimes. This is a mix of helping the criminal with their underlying problems and delivering punishment that makes the victims and members of society feel the crime has been suitably dealt with.

While it does take more time and effort to correctly use restorative justice procedures and deal with the underlying issues individual criminals may face, in the long term it could substantially shorten the number of criminals being locked up. It could prevent future crimes from every being committed, since most criminals are repeat offenders.

When an offender is correctly helped the first time around, they are much likely to become repeat offenders. That is the power of restorative justice!

For every crime and anti-social action, there is a root cause within the person. Advocates of restorative justice want to uncover that root problem and create punishments that address the issue and correct it. This is not about letting criminals off without punishment. It is simply about tailoring the punishment directly to the criminal. It is about preventing future crime and making society a much safer place to be for all.